life after divorce – Jesus is for the Wounded

We must learn to let go

Published on June 12, 2015June 12, 2015 by Jesus is for the Wounded2 Comments

You must learn to let go to move forward.

“Keep moving forward” my brother, Mike, used to say when we were settling the estate of our dear mother after her death. The attachment and meaning of each object and task made moving in any direction difficult, confusing at times, and so very final. Then we decided to take them one at a time. Then we decided to learn to let go . . .

The unmade necklaces which would have surely been my best work needed to be disassembled today before they were ever completed. If I had stopped to make jewelry this afternoon then I would have never made my deadline for shipping Trinity Jewelry by Design to its new owner. I actually tried putting the beads back on the cotton fibers before realizing that I needed to stop and it would be o.k. to let these unmade designs go . . .

The 9-foot mural on the wall of my condo in Naperville, Illinois took a year to complete. I began with sunny colors of yellow tracing paper, pastel hues of unyru papers from India, custom-stenciled golden palm leaves, a few rhinestone swirls, lettering from a local sign shop, and a very important message about the bunny trails of life being such a very important part of the journey. “But what about the mural?” my friends would ask when moving to be with my intended beloved would take me 200 miles to the East of my happy place. Yes, finding true love required leaving the art of restoration behind: a different song of letting go . . .

When the pain of running my life on emptiness, stress, unanswered questions of “why?” and never having enough to make a difference anyways I finally crashed into the arms of my Jesus. At the time I was 29 years old, single, working full time, and forever trying to finish my Master’s degree. Then a laundrymat attendant laid out the plan of salvation and invited me to come to the table of the Lord for refreshment, forgiveness, renewal, eternal life with Him. Later that night with tears the wasted meaningless living-for-me finally did let go once and for all . . .

The hurt of wretched divorce grieves my Lord and me, sometimes even now when I have known such goodness in my new life with Steve. It took me years of harboring what it would take to even the score if given the chance: holding onto the files that would prove the ways in which I was wronged. Then I realized that the one carrying the baggage too far was me not him. I was already forgiven years ago for my part in things. In due time and with lightness of heart I finally learned to let go of that other person too . . .

Who could ever imagine the hellish suffering of these past three years with my head banging to and fro day after day? Literally, I mean, with a yet undiagnosed illness that has had too many pieces to keep track anymore. Cries out for healing one thousand times have made little difference on the surface; it’s so easy to become discouraged, to give up in motionless brokenness of the worst kind. “Who knows if the trials will ever end?” I often wonder when up late at night. We cannot know much about tomorrow so we must move along in faith today. For through faith, through Divine intervention, I have had enough grace once again to get me through yet another episode, another day. And the smallest of sweetness has come that would have been missed had it come any other way. So to the throne of grace with great expectation I do most definitely let my achy breaky heart go . . .

For who really knows when the Lover of my soul shall return in glory or to take me home? When He comes for me I’m sure I will recognize His name, His face, His comfort from all the days I’ve seen each of these before. I cannot afford to be discouraged or waste much time groaning the pangs of sorrow in this life when preparation is what is now due. It is time for letting God direct my every word, my every task: my thoughts held captive as an offering in love nothing else.

Oh how I do pray He comes soon to take me home to His mansion with many rooms and warm embrace! Yet in the meantime, Gentle Reader, my Jesus directs me to keep my eyes on Him from here and the one step of the path (that’s all) in front of me as I go. Yes, I must learn to let go of more than I ever dreamed I would need to and let it all slip through my hands to be free. My happiness depends upon this for the lightness in my spirit that will carry me to the wondrous places in life you or I may ever go. I trust that down the road a bit it will be truly beautiful and worth lightening the load a bit don’t you think? JJ

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

It was the Lord’s decision

Published on May 11, 2015May 11, 2015 by Jesus is for the Wounded2 Comments

O.k. let’s loosen up a bit first for a funny story that my beloved told me today:

Steve was having his hair cut by an older stylist who shared with him a little something about back hair. Yes, Steve already “knows” about back hair and somehow his stylist found out about it too. I’ll call her Mabel to increase my comfort level with another woman musing about my husband’s body hair. (My apologies to anyone named Mabel out there!)

Mabel said she had a client one time that wanted her to trim his back hair. You see, the furrier gentlemen types can have hair that sticks out of their shirt collar horrifying the fair skinned, younger female crowd for sure. (I’m thinking of Steve’s daughter here who usually helps Steve out with this kind of thing when she is in town. It’s some kind of daddy-daughter thang. Yeah, no problemmo. Keeps me from having to do it!) So Mabel did her duty and trimmed up the guy only to have him ask her to do a little more please. Then he must have asked for the shave to go further down his shirt because the story goes that she had to profess, “If I go any lower sir, you are going to have to tell me your middle name and buy me a drink!” Tee hee.

Steve and I cracked up for a long time after he told me this little ditty! Then my intended beloved confessed that his chest hair was getting a little long. I reminded him that his daughter would be visiting in a couple of days. Nuff said. Besides, I already know his middle name! Lol.

There’s no clear segway from here to the topic on my heart tonight. Today was Mother’s Day and technically I am not a mother of anyone. Steve has four adult children whom I all met when they were becoming independent adults so the step——- term never seemed appropriate. I was left in an awkward ambiguous role of “my dad’s wife” as if I was an expendable associate to whom they would have to be polite until one of us went away again. They are all well-trained young adults in politeness, avoiding difficult topics, and loving their dad just the same even after their parent’s divorce. The silence was still deafening, the emotional distance between us palpable. In time I would discover that the fact that I never had children would be one of the reasons their respect for me would remain superficial for a long time.

Only the Lord knows why I did not become pregnant when every indication at one particular moment in time suggested that a child would be in my future. Conception never happened. Four months later I discovered that my husband at the time was having an affair. The affair had lasted almost a year before I found out about it! If we had conceived a child at that time, the precious new life would have been dragged through a painful divorce process and horrific life challenges that I ended up enduring in addition to the divorce. In my humble opinion, both that little life that was never born and I were spared a multitude of heartaches. Surely if I had gotten pregnant the Lord would have provided and guided our lives, taking care of important details like finances, medical care, and a place to stay. The stress would have been unbearable for me, however. At times I did not function very well at all for a couple of years just taking care of me. My spirit was so broken . . .

The Lord knew what He was doing when He placed me in another “broken” family with a Godly father with four children four years later.

⁵A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
⁶God sets the solitary in families;
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; Psalm 68:6-7a

Over and over again I have witnessed the special role that the Lord intended by my presence in Steve’s family, my family. Those musings may rarely if ever be spoken to the children. I will not say more about that here lest they read this one day. I am honored and blessed to be here in this family. And when the grandchildren started coming, I was delighted to be welcomed as “Grandma!” So sweet. So worth navigating the older kid’s awkwardness that came in gatherings during of our first seven years of marriage. Grandkids are fun!

Tonight I decided to post a message on my Facebook a message that speaks to my heart this Mother’s Day. Many of us come from broken homes, broken marriages, childlessness, or the loss of children in our lives for some reason. Love is like that sometimes. Things don’t go right and it hurts terribly yet I hope we still choose to love again anyways. I can tell you this night that I am glad that I did not give up too soon. I hope that you do not give up too soon either Gentle Reader.

The Lord never blessed me with my own children then he blessed in other ways instead. I count it all joy to be related to Christina, Patrick and Kate (Jackson and Warren), Rebekah and Daniel, and Daniel and Elizabeth. Know that I pray for you often, whether it’s in the shadow of your amazing dad or trying to find my way when I do get to see you. I think I now understand a mother’s heart. She just loves. Me too. Hope your day was meaningful . . . :J

All You Need is Love

Published on April 1, 2014April 1, 2014 by Jesus is for the Wounded1 Comment

Sometimes you just need Jesus with skin on, ya know?

Tis quite humbling to find true love in the midst of the most wretched time of my life. Even the worst of the trauma of my childhood cannot compare to the wrecking ball-like experiences of violent, waking seizures every day. During the bewitching hour of night my beloved often lingers nearby, checking in periodically or lies next to me to warm my chilled, freaking out frame. Perhaps he has carried me to the bathroom moments earlier or fed me some water to drink in my listless state after an episode. And then comes the silliness that only a River Bear can muster in the midst of yet another crisis. Seriously! He finds a way to laugh in the midst of it all.

Sometimes you just need Jesus with skin on and I am exceedingly grateful love my Steve every day. Making his lunch bag for work or cooking dinner a few nights per week is my meager contribution of late. Sometimes I can do housework, grocery shop and laundry too; not so much lately. It doesn’t seem to matter to my husband though. He appreciates any of it and celebrates when I can get out and walk the dog or create a piece of jewelry instead of completing the chores. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches seem to fill his belly just the same! What further amazes me is his compliments and words of encouragement when I am at my lowest. I have never known this much love from anyone before Steve!

To those Gentle Readers who are single: be the partner for which you seek and wait for the one who will love you above all else after the Lord. I found Steve after 47 years of living and after kissing a few frogs along the way! Oh well. Sometimes you can’t tell a prince from a frog until it’s too late! Yet when we trust the One who knows and numbers each hair on our pretty little heads, He will bring your night in shining aluminum*, or is that armor (?) at just the right time. The trials and adventures of life come alive when shared with your intended beloved.

I used to say that I could make a relationship out of anything. I was dumb and wrong. Settling for less only brings heartache. I now see too how the Lord empowers me to love Steve beyond my earthly capabilities and he must be doing the same for Steve as he loves me too. In doing so we are drawn even closer together. How does one prepare a lunch bag, clean up the kitchen at 4:00 a.m., and make it back to bed when sickly, nauseous, twitching in pre-tic episodes, etc.? (How does Steve work full time, serve and worship at church, attend to household tasks, and keep up with athletic endeavors after staying up late with me?) By calling on the Lord to add His increase, He brings blessings beyond the tasks at hand. As for me, on particularly bad days I don’t do much of anything. The look in my eyes is all I can give, to say how proud I am that my husband goes to work each day for us, or for me to muster up the strength to take a shower and wear the jeans he likes the best. It is enough. It is love.

Thank you Steve. Thank you Lord!

Steve and Julie looking out over Lover's Leap, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois — Steve and Julie looking out over Lover’s Leap, Starved Rock State Park, Illinois

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* The “night in shining aluminum” story stems from the theme of many romance novels: the dashing young man will eventually scoop the young maiden into his arms and carry her off into eternal bliss as the sun sets. I believe I had a similar experience the day of my move from the west suburbs of Chicago, Illinois 200 miles east to be with Steve in northeastern Indiana. We met on Yahoo Personals and had a fairy tale long distance relationship for longer than my Prince Charming desired. Each time we parted to make the long drive home he would tease me about running off to be with him in Indiana! The tell tale moment finally came on moving day in November of 2007. The movers had packed the 24-foot box truck with all of the earthly possessions from my beautiful condo near the Dupage River. We were standing in the parking lot about ready to go when he popped the question. Steve looked at me and said, “Julie I’m going to ask you one last time: will you come away with me to Indiana?” I jumped into his arms with a resounding “YES” and off into the beast of shiny aluminum we went! My prince had come for me at last . . . :J